this was my least favorite. everything was too easy, too set. enjoyable, but not great.

So I keep coming back to this book and why it doesn't work. The major problem is that there's no real tension. We already know the ocean is going away because Saturday's story was told first, and she removes the ocean at the end of her story. So all of that worry about food, clothing, the land, etc isn't that bothersome because you know in a few weeks everything will go back to normal.

Then there's the main fairy tale. Sunday and Saturday were both major participants in their fairy tales. They were the characters those stories were based around. The events happened TO them. Friday was just kind of a hanger on in this one, and the story really suffers for it. She wasn't the person who had to take a vow of silence in order to free her seven brothers, she was just in love with one of the brothers. She was insignificant in her own story.

And then there are all the excess characters. I'm really glad that Kontis's editor made her cut Trix's story from this book. Partly because I loved his story and think it would have suffered if it had been stuffed into another novel, but mostly because there are a plethora of characters who do little for the main book plot, and we didn't need another one muddying the waters further. Someone really needed to make a list of the characters and ask Kontis how each one was significant to the fairy tale she was telling in THIS novel, and not necessarily to the overarching story of the Woodcutter sisters. But honestly, that goes back to the problem of Friday not being an actor in her tale.